Berkeley Law with 180,000 scholarship or Harvard Law?

kitana0237

Looking for Advice/Tips on Current Situation -
I have a 180,000 scholarship offer from Berkeley from last year’s cycle 19/20. Currently deferred for one year. I was also waitlisted at Harvard Law, but never submitted an LOCI and then got dropped. Also had offers from Cornell and Georgetown. Pretty much waitlisted at every other law school. Applied in Jan of 2020 For cycle 19/20.
My stats are 4.2 GPA, 169 LSAT. I’m 6+ years out though the LSAT score is more recent. Also completing a masters in social policy at LSE. Grades won’t be available till next year unfortunately.
Would it be worth it to reapply to Harvard law?
I‘m thinking I may have a decent shot If I apply early enough?
I’ve got no time rn to retake LSATs, maybe Jan. I know I am a splitter for HYS.
Career goal wise Harvard Law is better for me but I also hear they don’t give much scholarships.
Has anyone also applied while holding an offer? Would I have to reapply to Berkeley?
I guess there are no guarantees, so should I apply to more schools just in casE?
Thanks everyone!

existentialist

First of all, congratulations to you! You are in a fantastic position.

If I was you, I would consider what sort of work I want to do, and which market I would like to practice it in. For example, if you are dead set on doing biglaw in NYC, Berkeley might not be your best choice. Alternatively, if you want to live in California, a full ride doesn't sound too bad!

Best of luck to you.

LOWERCASE EVERYTHING

first of all, congrats!!! this is amazing!

wouldn't a reapplication to harvard lose your deferred-status at berkeley? isn't deferring like asking the school to hold a seat for you?

this is tough. i think you may want to check with berkeley and their deferring policies first if re-applying to any other schools will remove your spot and your scholarships for the next incoming class.

if you'll need to re-apply to berkeley, i'm not sure if there will be any guarantees that they'll give you the same amount of scholarships because the amount that they give out depends from year to year.

canihazJD

@kitana0237 said:
Would it be worth it to reapply to Harvard law?

I mean... yeah. If you're asking about it, I'm assuming that would be your preference. All it costs you is an app fee and you won't have to wonder for the rest of your life. It'd probably be better if you could come at them with a higher score, but at the very least I'd revamp my app package. I think with the flood of early apps and higher scores, you'd stand a better chance with a higher score and a bit later app than vice versa. Yes you got WL'ed so there was something they liked, but their WL was also enormous last cycle.

Were there any conditions to your deferral? Obviously they're expecting your to matriculate, but if there wasn't anything specific about applying to other schools, I don't see why you'd need to reapply. I'm sure Berk wouldn't be too happy about it, and I be sure not to dox yourself, lest they just pull your deferral. Thats a pretty awesome outcome by the way... congrats whatever way it goes.

VerdantZephyr

I would say that a full ride at Berkeley is far better than sticker or near sticker at Harvard unless your career goals are something like being a federal judge or becoming a prominent researcher and professor. That said, the network at Harvard is powerful. I do not think it is worth 180000 dollars more than Berkeley though, especially if you are open to working out of the West Coast or elsewhere outside of NYC. This year is an especially competitive cycle and there is no guarantee that you will get another T14 near full ride or even into Harvard. Your resume is impressive but to be confident in your chances you really need a better LSAT which you have not yet taken and do not plan to take until midwinter at the earliest. Find out what the conditions are for your deferment at Berkeley, but I would think long and hard about jeopardizing the place and money at Berkeley if you are open to living and working on the West Coast.

GTFOHLSAT

@existentialist said:
First of all, congratulations to you! You are in a fantastic position.

If I was you, I would consider what sort of work I want to do, and which market I would like to practice it in. For example, if you are dead set on doing biglaw in NYC, Berkeley might not be your best choice. Alternatively, if you want to live in California, a full ride doesn't sound too bad!

Best of luck to you.

I think if Kitana's goal is to do biglaw and in NYC, Berkeley's probably fine. I'm from NYC and a lot of people I know left the city to go to all kinds of schools UC Irvine, Berkeley, Georgetown, WashU, BU, BC, you name it, and were able to get summer associateships in NYC and offers to come back after graduation fine. But I'm not sure if this was because they had ties in NYC and/or went really hard during the application process (i.e., applying direcly to firms even when they didn't do oci at their schools).

However, I feel like Kitana might be hinting at something different. Usually when people say something like that --- "Career goal wise Harvard Law is better for me" --- and their aim is at HYS, they usually wanna do something that is unusual or might not as easily available for those at other T14 schools...

hopefulling

A 169 seems too low for Harvard ... especially since they might also have deferments from last year holding a seat. You'd almost have to retake the LSAT and applying in February is really late in the cycle. ... But, I don't know your situation. ...

Law and Yoda

@VerdantZephyr said:
I would say that a full ride at Berkeley is far better than sticker or near sticker at Harvard unless your career goals are something like being a federal judge or becoming a prominent researcher and professor. That said, the network at Harvard is powerful. I do not think it is worth 180000 dollars more than Berkeley though.

While this definitely holds some truth, I think the dollar value is incomparable with aspirations of attending a law school of their dream. Granted, I am making the assumption that Harvard is OP's dream school. But to say that a full ride is far better than a sticker price, that varies person to person right? Attending a prestigious school can't solely be based on what the purpose of your career move will be in the future, a lot of factors go into such a decision. I saw this post and immediately thought "You could give me full tuition, housing, and extra pay and I'll still choose Harvard." Everyone has different goals and dreams, sometimes you can't put a monetary value on it. For some, including myself, it isn't just about the name that Harvard carries, but the meaning of attending after all the adversity faced in your own life but also your families life. I'm a proud child of immigrant parents, attending such a school would feel like I've given every ounce of hard work back to my parents - there's no price on that. Again, your advice still holds and has great importance when making a decision, but "worth" is determined individually.

Just wanted to throw this opinion out there in case there are others like me so they don't think they're crazy or something lol.

noonawoon

I think guaranteed full-ride at Berkeley (great school) is better than a crumb of a chance at Harvard, which is what reapplying with no new LSAT score would be. If your application isn't going to be much different from last year, I'm not sure why the outcome (waitlist) would be different.

Logician

I completely agree with @VerdantZephyr and @noonawoon. Debt should be a very serious consideration when gauging this decision, unless you are wealthy enough to pay sticker; and even then, if we're looking at this from a purely pragmatic viewpoint, i.e monetary opportunity cost, ROI, employment outcomes, bar passage rate, etc. choosing Harvard over Berkley with a full ride would be the wrong call- especially with your stats. Now if you want to craft an argument based on normative statements as others have done above, by all means be my guest. Why do so many people want to go to Harvard? well I believe the honest truth is simply because of its layman reputation, which often times can boil down to ego and prestige at the end of the day. A lot of people would rather go hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and be able to say they went to Harvard than go to another T14 (with significant scholarship) that will grant you similar career outcomes (barring fed clerkships and other niches, which by the way are still competitive to get even if you go to HYS). Think 10 years down the road, would you rather have graduated from an amazing school without having any debt hanging over your head, or have gone to the more prestigious, renowned school with significant debt to pay off upon graduation. J.Y himself has spoken about the debt factor, which I believe is something that should be at the forefront of your decision making progress (again barring you can't simply afford to pay sticker). In any case, this is a decision you have to make yourself, as you'll ultimately be the one living with the effects.

Here's some feedback from an actual Harvard Law grad, maybe this well help.
https://www.quora.com/Is-Harvard-Law’s-full-price-worth-it-over-another-top-law-school-T-15-with-a-scholarship